people and planet

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BOX 19.1
teachers (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2012b).
Almost half of all principals in countries that participated
in the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey
(TALIS) reported a shortage of teachers with competence
in teaching students with special needs (OECD, 2014c).
These measures do not capture inequality in distribution
of trained teachers. Evidence on this issue is scarce
despite the importance of monitoring whether betterprepared
teachers are allocated to the schools that
need them most. For example, in Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates, teachers with more than five years
Monitoring the preparedness and development of school leaders
Committed school leaders can transform schools. In richer countries, it has been
estimated that school leadership accounts for one-quarter of the difference in student
outcomes explained by school-related variables. This makes school leadership second
only to teachers as an influence on learning.
However, cross-country information on school leader qualifications is fragmented. In
Europe, headship training is required in 21 countries or regions; the duration varies from
one week in Romania to a master’s programme in Malta. Specific training programmes
also exist in countries where it is not an official requirement for appointment.
In countries that participated in the 2013 TALIS, 92% of lower secondary principals had tertiary
education qualifications but many lacked preparation for specific tasks. For example, only
14% of principals in Denmark had participated in school administration or principal training
programmes prior to their appointment, and 45% had still not done so by the time of the
survey. The latter share was as high as 51% in Serbia and 58% in Croatia. In addition, 41% of
principals in Spain and 57% in Poland had never received training in instructional leadership.
In Chile, the government introduced the Good School Leadership Framework, a
competitive process for selecting principals, and in 2011 the Programme for the Training of
Excellent Principals, which in its first two years trained more than one-third of principals
in leadership skills through graduate degrees.
To address its absence of a professional qualification, South Africa introduced an
Advanced Certificate in Education: School Leadership. Following positive evaluation, the
government made the programme a requirement for new principals within three years
of their appointment. Jamaica recently established the National Centre for Educational
Leadership to train and certify aspiring and existing principals.
In poorer countries, it is rare for school heads or principals to have preparation or inservice
training; they get little support from local education authorities. Among 12 mostly
low income sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries, only Bangladesh made an
effort to train all school leaders.
Sources: Bennell and Akyeampong (2007), Bruns and Luque (2014), Bush (2008), Bush and
Glover (2012), European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice (2013), Leithwood et al. (2008),
OECD (2014c), Vaillant (2015).
of teaching experience are 60% less likely to work in
schools with higher proportions of students from diverse
language backgrounds. In Sweden, teachers with more
experience are half as likely to work in schools with
larger proportions of students from socio-economically
disadvantaged homes (OECD, 2014c). This is the result
of both allocation decisions and higher teacher turnover
rates in challenging schools.
Finally, some categories of educators require specialized
training but are not covered by general measurements.
Notably, school principals are engaged in an increasingly
complex set of activities and their qualifications need to
be monitored (Box 19.1).
As was shown above, minimum training requirements are
difficult to compare across countries. In particular, initial
teacher education courses differ in terms of duration,
length of induction period and modality – whether
they are provided alongside general education or after
the completion of subject-based study. In the case of
subject teachers, courses also differ with respect to the
degree of specialization (European Commission/EACEA/
Eurydice, 2012b).
Structural aspects also make comparing qualifications
difficult, for a number of reasons (Tatto et al., 2012).
For example, countries may apply more or less strict
criteria for admission to teacher education programmes.
Botswana requires candidates for primary and lower
secondary mathematics teacher training to prove
proficiency in mathematics before enrolling.
Country policies of teacher education programme
quality assurance differ. In Thailand, the Office for
National Education Standards and Quality Assessment
is an external evaluation body with the power to rescind
programmes’ accreditation. Chile encourages alternative
teacher education provision, which inflates the supply
of trainee posts and lowers admission criteria, but the
system is not regulated.
Some countries add a layer of quality assurance by not
allowing all graduates of teacher education programmes
into the profession. In Oman and the Philippines, those
with a teaching qualification must also take a test set by
external agencies (Tatto et al., 2012).
The profile of teacher educators differs as well,
particularly in poorer countries where they may have had
very little training themselves. Analysis in six sub-Saharan
African countries found that early reading teacher
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CHAPTER 19 | TARGET 4.C – TEACHERS